I've wondered about Rodin's famous sculpture. Is he engaged in deep thought or sitting around wasting time? And why isn't he wearing pants? I ask the same of myself. Here we comment on well, mostly politics. Or we may just sit! If you like it, tell a friend. If not, tell us, but please read the GROUND RULES before you do.

Saturday, December 22, 2012

NO, THE WORLD DIDN'T COME TO AN END ON FRIDAY; but the Republican Party may have. The "flabbergasted" Speaker of the House, worst in history, was incapable of rising above the partisan divide to do what's right for America rather than his own hide. In the end, he wasted a week on a political dead-on-arrival stunt to raise taxes on million-dollar earners that his own caucus rejected! So much for hitting the bottle rather than behave with sobriety ...

So, we're going over the proverbial "fiscal cliff," so what? Better no deal than a BAD deal. And the President is once again toying with the odious proposal to adjust Social Security CPI, which will TRULY hurt the most vulnerable. His penchant for playing macho with progressives and footsie with right wing Republicans is geting really old, really fast.

So, the wily Mayan Calendar is predicting a "new cycle" in which the GOP (as historians look back on the date that was) is officially no more, replaced by a weird hybrid of Teabaggers, corporate lobbyists, and zillionaires who will not give up their dreams of hijacking our democracy. And maybe President Obama stops whining that Republicans don't like him, and starts growing a pair. Been there, done that ... and the Mayan Calendar is strangely silent on this score.

Monday, December 17, 2012

Despite the fact that the weapon of mass destruction used to slaughter 20 children in Newtown, CT was purchased by the shooter's mother, one of the least-discussed facts surrounding our so-called "gun culture" is that it is overwhelmingly macho. All you need do is listen to the radio call-in shows for the fanatics (aka, gun "enthusiasts") to come out of the woodwork tossing specious lofty concepts about their 2nd Amendment rights and false statistics concerning their imminent peril from a "tyrannical" "nazi" government. These individuals are fanatics to a fault, argumentative and obnoxious to the point one thinks, "get a LIFE, already!"

Lately, we've been cowed into believing there's something virtuous called a "rural culture" (white) vs. "urban" (black) to explain their pure as a Caucasian snow-covered mountaintop love of military-style weapons of mass destruction ... the beter to mow down those darkies who won the last election, when the Obama communist revolution comes. President Obama was right. They cling to their guns and religion, and until a couple of decades ago, strung 'em up off the highest tree branch. Some "rural" culture.

Here's the truth: There's nothing noble, or uplifting, or healthy, about rural America. Quite the contrary; it is poverty-stricken, polluted by huge transnational mining, chemical, oil and gas companies. Has "urban" America experienced the joys of fracking? No, and as New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg representing "urban" America and a city where strict gun laws have resulted in a steady decline in gun violence the last 12 years asserted, this gun madness must end.

The "urban" v. "rural" cultural divide is a straw man thrown out by conservatives, naturally, to muddy the waters with the false implication that never the twain shall meet. In fact, one common denominator in most mass killings is that it is a suburban phenomenon perpetrated by fairly affluent disturbed young white males.

What these straw man arguments do, however, is reinforce the economic forces behind our so-called "gun culture" led by their principal lobbying organization, the NRA. Guns are a zillion-dollar industry of death in America. That is why nothing has been done to curb or control it. There are some 58,000 licensed gun dealers in America; more than there are McDonald's, or Starbucks worldwide.

We know what to do: Reinstate the assault weapons ban; close the gun show loophole which is exempted from background checks; tighten and enforce the existing laws on the books. And severely restrict those high-capacity magazines. That's just for starters. The question is, will President Obama follow through? Will the politicians show the political will and courage to take on a paper tiger like the NRA? Have we really reached that so-called "tipping point? (I'll believe it when I see it.)

Call me crazy, but I think the only way meaningful, rational, sane gun control will ever be achieved in this this country is if the silent victims of the slaughters — our women, mothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, friends, teachers — stand up and be counted. Not many Americans have heard of the "pots and pans protests" which had their beginnings among South American housewives from Chile and Argentina, then spread through other countries, including English-speaking nations like Canada. These were protests by suburban housewives mostly, but not exclusively, against the government. In Argentina, they took to the streets loudly banging their pots and pans to protest the torture and disappearances of their sons and daughters during the military crackdown of the 80s.

Amazingly, these protests were more effective than any others in achieving results; even the most heinous dictator had a mom who could shame them. Lately, such protests have centered on economic issues as an effective symbol of peaceful resistance to government inaction and defiance of a great injustice.

We need our own "pots and pans" protest against government paralysis on gun control.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

"The only thing Obama's left on the table is the varnish." ~ The TURTLE has a wry sense of humor! This is actually funny, and as far as I can recall it's the only thing the annoying Republican obstructionist has ever said that made me laugh out loud. It also flatters the Democrats (those who aren't wavering) and the PUBLIC, which by SUPERMAJORITIES of upwards of 60% has decreed that Social Security (which has contributed NADA to the debt) is OFF THE TABLE; and, likewise, Medicare cuts to beneficiaries, and particularly that ODIOUS trial balloon hike in the retirement age from 65 to 67 are OFF THE TABLE. Who among the Democrats will be the first to betray the will of the American people, I wonder?

Sunday, December 09, 2012

IT’S ALMOST A SACRILEGE TO COMPARE AND CONTRAST the life of one of the greatest architects of the 20th and 21st Centuries, Oscar Niemeyer, who died last Wednesday at 104, leaving to us a wondrous legacy of beauty and poetic expression, to Ayn Rand's fictional Howard Roark, invented to feebly deny the monumental accomplishments of a giant as Niemeyer. Roark was a didactic character, a vehicle for Ayn Rand’s twisted, juvenile philosophy in The Fountainhead, perhaps her best novel. Rather than compromise his self-respect, Roark pursued an utterly unrealistic career path getting himself expelled from architecture school for refusing to copy the classical styles of the past. He even worked as a day laborer rather than compromise his futuristic designs. Eventually, Roark threw a hissy fit and blew up his masterpiece, a house built on a cliff.

Ironically, Rand’s knowledge of architecture was so perfunctory that her novel completely overlooked the creative explosion in design which was occurring right under her nose when The Fountainhead was published. One wonders why Roark felt compelled to go to such extremes before, say, paying a professional courtesy call on Frank Lloyd Wright. Or why he didn’t care to immerse himself in the myriad architectural movements, from modernism to Bauhaus, post-modernism, or the designs of Le Corbusier, an early influence on Oscar Niemeyer. The tyranny of classicism on which Rand hung her narrative was only manifested in the fascist dictatorships of Nazi Germany and Mussolini’s Italy when The Fountainhead was published in 1943 — hardly the United States or any of the world’s democracies, where modern art and futuristic architecture thrived.

The point is: Howard Roark, unlike Rand’s unrealistic Objectivist tome, had a huge menu of options to choose from before turning selfish terrorist, resorting to violence (a common theme for Rand’s heroes) and blowing up his own creation.

By 1921, Oscar Niemeyer was married to his teenage sweetheart, and would remain married to her till death parted them, decades later. (Here, they call it “family values.”) He worked until he died at 104, days shy of his 105th birthday. (Here, they call it “the work ethic” or America’s “Puritan values.”) And while Ayn Rand was milching off Social Security and Medicare, Oscar Niemeyer was working full hours at the office. Those Oscar Niemeyer most related to, Mitt Romney’s 47% — the Republicans’ “takers” and “slackers” and “moochers” — had seemingly little in common with the great architect, who by all accounts was emblematic of the American Right’s myth of self-determination, of picking oneself up by one’s bootstraps while pretending to have been born unto this world on a level playing field. Niemeyer had an answer for them. He said:

“Architecture evolves in function of technique and social problems. The day in which society becomes more horizontal, there won’t be palaces for the richest.

I’ve talked with teachers, academics, journalists, young architects—anyone who crosses my way and wants to “talk about architecture.” Pay attention, kids, you can’t graduate and just dedicate your life to being a good architect. That is bullshit. You need to find an original way to think and to be informed about everything daily. Read, read, read, and read.

I wouldn’t (recommend his own books about architecture) at all! I would tell people they should study philosophy and history to rediscover the great writers and thinkers. Anyone who is going to be an architect should invest part of his time in the knowledge of humanism. I spent my life at this desk, but I never fooled myself. I always knew that life is much more important than this—to feel is more important, to be nice to people is more important. To be useful is much more important to me than my architecture.

Architecture has always been directed to the upper class, and things haven’t changed. Nowadays there are almost no creative projects dedicated to improving the life of those who don’t have money.”

You see, Oscar Niemeyer was literally a card-carrying member of the Brazilian Communist Party. During the dark days of military dictatorship in Brazil, days of massive political purges, torture, and “disappearances,” being openly communist took much more courage than the selfish terrorism of Howard Roark. To be sure, the PCB (as it was known) was an enemy of the state but hardly an operational threat. Niemeyer was named a sort of honorary chairman or president. It was only his prestige abroad, and his crowning historic achievement in designing Brazil’s futuristic capital, Brasilia, from the ground up, which protected him from the violence of the fascist military regime. He was exiled to France, where he continued his brilliant designs, including the headquarters of the French Communist Party.

Here is part of Oscar Niemeyer’s legacy, the beauty he left us all to enjoy for as long as man and woman walks this earth. One little irony is that he also built his house on a cliff, a saucer-shaped museum overlooking Guanabara Bay and looking out toward the iconic Sugar Loaf Mountain in Rio de Janeiro. No one (in their right non-Objectivist mind) would ever dream of blowing up this building. A second irony, witness to a life of grand achievements, is that Oscar Niemeyer had more creative energy, brilliance, poetry, beauty and genius in his little pinkie than all the right wing extremists of this world ranting against “socialists” and “Marxists.”

Not bad for a communist.

MUSEUM ON A CLIFF.

BRAZILIAN CONGRESS.

ANTI-TORTURE MEMORIAL. IN THE U.S. THIS MEMORIAL (IF EVER BUILT) WOULD DEPICT WATERBOARDING.

THE NURSE AT THE HOSPITAL KATE MIDDLETON WAS STAYING WHO FELL FOR THE PRANK of two Aussie radio hosts posing as (a very bad) Queen Elizabeth and (a so-so) Prince Charles and transferred the call, has apparently committed suicide. In the wake of world wide social media furor and hysteria, the station has suspended but not fired the presenters, who are said to be, obviously, devastated.

Here's my take: Tragic as this incident is, as pranks go this was hardly beyond the pale. Let's face it, the RIDICULOUS ROYALS are common fodder for this kind of thing. Charles even joked, when asked of Kate's condition, that he was no Australian radio station. No one knows why the nurse in question took her life. Yet millions have already judged and condemned the Aussie radio presenters.

Friday, December 07, 2012

USUALLY I DON'T HAVE MUCH TO COMPLAIN ABOUT BIG EDDIE, given the huge workload he's carrying with his radio and TV show; He's doing a great job, overall. But here's where I draw the line: The most LOATHSOME wingnut specimen of ALL is the pretend-reasonable type who will call in saying, "I like to listen to BOTH SIDES (Eddie and the Pigman) to make a conclusion about my children's future." (AWWW ...) First of all, these PHONIES fall into two categories: (1) They're PAID PLANTS (most likely here, the way this wingnut rolled Big Eddie); or (2) they're anti-social IMBECILES who have been living under a rock for the past two years.

Inexplicably, Eddie does an on-air BRAIN MELT on the wingnut, saying "I'm glad you called" (?!), then allows the wingnut to ROLL HIM with the SPECIOUS, DESPICABLE, FAUX BROMIDE, "they're ALL, ALL OF THEM TO BLAME ... AND to think that they're ALL (Democrats and Republicans) making decisions about my children's future" ... blahblahblah. I have ALWAYS found that attitude OFFENSIVE and DISHONEST/DELUSIONAL to the nth degree. But now, in the wake of the election, with the Democrats' RESOUNDING and DECISIVE victory, for some wingnut to start bitching about the false equivalency, ALL OVER AGAIN, on the Big Eddie show is too much to stomach. I was expecting Big Eddie to ask this "john" WHAT EFFIN' ROCK HAS HE BEEN LIVING UNDER FOR THE LAST 2, 4, 6, 10 YEARS!? Didn't this pathetic "john" see Karl Rove and Dick Morris make DUMBASSES of themselves on FOX?! Big Eddie should have told the "john" quite simply, "If you want the TRUTH call this show. If you CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH, then keep listening to the Pigman, but don't waste my listeners' time calling this show."

So what does Eddie say, instead: "They never met a payroll ... hehe." Excuse me, Eddie, but neither has President Obama, nor Paul Krugman, or Rachel Maddow, for that matter. Get a grip, buddy.

Wednesday, December 05, 2012

THEY BROKE THE MOLD WITH HUNTER. This, for me, is the best quote from the movie, for it embodies what journalists should be but few become. At best, as Lady Alex likes to say, we've got a pale imitation in "Mr. Emmy." Or as Oscar Wilde said, "nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.”

THIS ONE IS DEFINITELY IN THE RUNNING FOR THE true "war on Xmas" awards. At first I thought it was another concrete jungle grotesque Gotham story of man's inhumanity to man, hot on the heels of that heartwarming story of a NYC cop (those guys are the best) buying a barefoot homeless man a $75 pair of boots. (P.S. The homeless man was later seen barefoot AGAIN, explaining rather sheepishly that he might get killed if caught wearing his fancy shoes. So much for the spirit of Christmas, but nice try, Martin.)

Anyway, this yin-yang tale of horror involved the murder of a man pushed into the path of an oncoming subway train by a homicidal maniac. It happened to have been caught on camera, and TWICE published in the NY Post's front page. But what really drew my attention was that (a) the photographer was a freelancer for the Post, and (b) the corpse wasn't even cold before this bastard was on the Today Show justifying himself for doing nothing to save the man with the outrageous excuse that the "flash" from his camera would somehow alert the victim something was wrong.

First of all, while there are grey areas regarding photojournalists who become "part of the story," there is very little debate concerning the saving of a life from imminent death. Real photojournalists understand the boundaries of their moral and ethical responsibilities in this regard, and have time and again proven their mettle and their courage by saving "civilians" in imminent danger. But we refer to the brave and noble photojournalists who place themselves in the line of fire every single day to get the story out of a war zone. The scum who shoot seamy photos for the front page of Rupert Murdoch's NY Post do not belong to this club, and never will.

Speaking of Murdoch, he has ordered his lieutenant Roger Ailes to smack more lipstick on that pig known as FOX "News." After his so-called "political analysts" Dick Morris and Karl Rove were mercilessly mocked in the progressive blogosphere, including yours truly, for their absurd electoral predictions, prompting ferret-face David Gregory to immolate himself before the wingnut certitude emanating from Moron Joe & Co. to predict on election day an "enthusiasm gap" among Democrats, effectively calling the race for Romney, Murdoch-Ailes yanked Morris and Rove off the air.

Gregory, of course, is still riding high on his magic disinformation carpet ride as the High Priest of the Idiot Punditocracy, which can only mean one thing: It won't be long before Morris and Rove join perennial Gregory favorite Newt Gingrich in those barf-inducing MTP panels. Too bad for Murdoch that Rove left after the burning barn door of the Media arm of the Republican Party was left wide open. Once major Murdoch competitor, the New York Times, took notice of Rove's cell phone comunications with the Romney campaign trying to pressure FOX "News" itself to change its call for Obama, it was game over.

And how endearing is Roger Ailes' bromance with David Petraeus? He tried to convince the general to run for president, even promising to "bankroll" his campaign. (Just imagine the faux outrage in Righwingville had the heads of WAPO, the Times or MSNBC offered to "bankroll" President Obama's campaign. Quite unrealistic, since only Rupie and his pals on the right have that kind of money.) Judging by FOX's declining ratings, it's "we've been reported (trans: busted) you decide." The last part's true. They're down to their core true believers. One thing about patriotic FOX viewers: They HATE a LOSER. Right now they're so, so lost, and there's nothing bimbo blonde legs, and Megyn too, can do about it.

Friday, November 30, 2012

IS THIS CRYIN' SLUSHBAG FOR REAL?! DOESN'T HE KNOW THE DEMOCRATS WON THE ELECTION AND HE/TEABAGGERS LOST?! The Speaker of the House IS EXPECTED to take tough, sometimes unpopular decisions (with his caucus of crazies) FOR THE GOOD OF THE COUNTRY. That is if you're counted among the great, historic Speakers. Here's to you, BONER. John Lennon had you totally sussed:

ATTENTION WINGNUTS FROM UNDER EVERY ROCK AND RATHOLE IN RIGHTWINGVILLE! Aside from Mitt's awkward magic underwear stance, do you notice anything utterly TREASONOUS about him?! (Keep in mind, the photo has not been photoshopped! You may trust but verify, independently.) Give up? OMG, Mitt Romney is not wearing an American flag lapel pin!!! OH, THE HUMANITY! Where are the Fox Hounds, the Pigman, the wingnut blogosphere, yelling "unpatriotic traitor, traitor traitor!"

Monday, November 26, 2012

YO, EDDIE HOW'D YOUR PACKERS DO LAST NIGHT? (SEE BELOW FOR BIG EDDIE'S TEARS.) But the Big Guy was otherwise all recovered from the L-Tryptophan Turkey overdose on Thanksgiving to offer some trenchant observations re:football this holiday w'end. Totally agree with Big Eddie on the hype surrounding the 49ers kid QB. You don't bench your starter who has done no wrong just because the kid shows flashes of brilliance and beginner's luck. Wait till he takes his first big league hit ...

Couple other random thoughts: (1) Big Eddie ought to interview — totally serious — his namesake "Fireman Ed," the Jets' longtime No. 1 fan who has finally had ENOUGH of the Jets' EPIC INCOMPETENCE and up and quit! Should make for a great interview, Eddie. (2) Is anyone as SICK of the Cowboys as I am?! Everytime I turn around, one network or another is sucking up to Jerry Jones' HORRIBLE team, barely hanging on with a 5-6 record, a supremely incompetent coach, and a punch-drunk dumb quarterback. Yet wingnuts like Al Michaels talk up the team as if they're this HUGE powerhouse. The bias is so pronounced, it's embarrassing and DISGUSTING. (3) How incompetent is Norv Turner, San Diego coach?! Had his defense played basic, FUNDAMENTAL football, which means wrapping and NO MISSED OPEN FIELD TACKLES, they would've put the Ravens away on a 4th-and-29! At such a moment the coach has to gather his D and give them a reminder pep talk: FOCUS, COVER YOUR LANES, AND WHATEVER YOU DO, NO MISSED OPEN-FIELD TACKLES! Turner does a pretty good impression of a zombie on the sidelines, and that carries over to his team.

Finally, I must say, Big Eddie, Aaron Rodgers is a totally overrated QB. Without a top receiving corps, he's like a lost widdle cheesehead in the woods. Put it this way: Given the choice, I'll take one of the most underrated QBs in football, Eli Manning, over Rodgers ... EVERY TIME. Eli is nothing short of amazing given what he's had to work with in his receiving corps.

Friday, November 23, 2012

In 1972, GEORGIA GOVERNOR (PRESIDENT, FOUR YEARS LATER) JIMMY CARTER AND HIS WIFE ROSLYN visited the grave of her great uncle, one of the original Confederados, at Campo. He said that the Confederados sounded and seemed just like Southerners.

MEMO TO THE SECESSIONIST MOVEMENTS IN TEXAS, ALABAMA, LOUISIANA, et al: It would please, and probably surprise you to know that some 10,000 to 20,000 of your brethren emigrated to Brazil after the Civil War rather than accept surrender to the Yankees. They settled in many regions of that vast nation, but concentrated mostly in the state of São Paulo. Unfortunately, a guest on a Hardball segment dealing with the latest secessionist movement, "author" James Moore, trivialized and ripped this colorful aspect of Brazilian culture by referring to these settlements as "New Texas" — WRONG! The Confederate immigrants actually came from most, if not all the states currently with secessionist petitions — then had the GALL to call them "El Confederados," when anyone with an OUNCE of NON-ETHNOCENTRIC education knows that SPANISH IS NOT THE LANGUAGE SPOKEN IN THE COLOSSUS OF SOUTH AMERICA; IT IS PORTUGUESE. Therefore, the correct name is "OS CONFEDERADOS." Naturally, all of this was received with untoward and OBNOXIOUS mirth by Chris Matthews, who has the belly-laugh of AN IDIOT. (But we knew that.)

Anyway, here's the Confederados annual cookout/party (2011), introduced by none other than a Portuguese-speaking Robert E. Lee! (Did you know there are hail storms in São Paulo?) Most of the revelers depicted in the video are direct descendants of the Confederate rebels who refused to surrender to the North, and they are very proud of their traditions. Word of advice, however, for any secessionists considering an exodus to be with their Southern relatives in São Paulo: Brazil is a very generous and welcoming nation; but moochers, deadbeats, and principally RACISTS need not apply. This ought to limit applications quite a bit.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

LET'S FACE IT FOLKS, OUR SEC. OF STATE LOOKS HOTHOTHOT playing the diplomatic power game at the highest level, negotiating a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. The difference between her visiting a Buddhist temple in Thailand with the President, and this pic, is like night and day! Hillary in profile looks 20 years younger and totally in command. IMPRESSIVE, to be polite.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

THIS IS FOR THE BELTWAY ELITISTS, PARTICULARLY CHUCKLES TODDY AND CHRIS MATTHEWS, who scoff at persistent reports that our electronic voting system is eminently hackable, and that elections have been stolen — on the presidential level in Ohio (2004), and nearly stolen once again in 2012, were it not for the vigilance of those unsung heroes, ANONYMOUS. Toddy and Matthews are two sides of the same coin; they refuse to consider mountains of evidence, as if it's all too tin-foil hat for their rose-tinted, good guys (us) worldview.

While Chuckles was poring over his demographics statistics — important, no doubt — Harper's Magazine in its November 2012 issue gave us a chilling account, largely ignored by the Beltway pseudo-cognoscenti, of how an election could be rigged, but thanks to ANONYMOUS was cut off at the pass. See, if Toddy were the least bit honest he would understand, and probably does, that to steal an election it's margin that counts. Considering how close the "experts" anticipated this election to be, its theft in Ohio, at least, was within reach for Karl Rove and his criminal co-conspirators. After all, they'd done it before, in 2004. Read more about it here; from the GAO report, commissioned by Senior Judiciary Committee Democrat, Rep. John Conyers, which concluded "some of [the] concerns about electronic voting machines have been realized and have caused problems with recent elections, resulting in the loss and miscount of votes;" more from Harper's yeoman's work (2005 issue).

Meanwhile, Chuckles Toddy, like a good card-carrying member of the Beltway elites, perpetuated the false narrative by brushing off claims of voting machine fraud with the following tweet: "The voting machine conspiracies belong in same category as the Trump birther garbage." Oh really, Chuckles? Then why haven't you (a) provided any hard evidence to back up your claim, much less (b) addressed the 17 specific examples of voting machine "irregularities" outlined in The Brad Blog, who stated, "Todd does an extraordinary disservice to the electorate with Tweets like the one above, and I'd be happy to come on his daily MSNBC show any time to explain why, as I have told him via Twitter in response to the above." Chuckles' reply: *CRICKETS*.

Enter ANONYMOUS with a dire warning for Karl Rove before the election of 2012:

Progressive radio host and author Thom Hartmann who, thankfully for us, takes the hacking theft of our elections as a clear and present danger to our democracy, puts meat on the bones of how this was attempted; Karl Rove's totally bizarre reaction when Ohio was called for Obama, his frantic phone exchanges with the Romney camp, or with who knows who, are perfectly understandable in this context. Pay attention, Chuckles and Chris. Not only is it fascinating, but you might learn something:

Here is part of the ANONYMOUS text, post-election (reproduced in full, below) in which what they did is explained:

"After a rather short time, we identified the digital structure of Karl's operation and even that of his ORCA. This was an easy task in that barn doors were left open and the wind swept us inside. So what do we do with these doors? Do we leave them open and catch the thieves as they steal the prize? Or do we close them so they cannot steal the prize?

Our decision — protect the citizens.

We coded and created, what we call, The Great Oz. A targeted password protected firewall that we tested and refined over the past weeks. We placed this code on more than one of the digital tunnels and their destinations that Karl's not so smart worker bees planned to use on election night. We noticed that these tunnels were strategically placed to allow for tunnel rats to race to the server sewers from three different states. Ah yes, Karl tried to make it appear that there were more than three but we quickly saw the folly of his ploy. We watched as Karl's little boys and girls confidently ran their tests while Karl told his barons to smoke cigars."

FINAL NOTE: One doesn't have to be a RATIONAL conspiracy theorist to FIX OUR VOTING MACHINE problem. Here are but a few suggestions: (a) Nationalize/legislate presidential elections by taking their management AWAY FROM PARTISAN SECRETARIES OF STATE, and hand them over to nonpartisan, neutral blue ribbon citizens groups; (b) create a PAPER TRAIL WHICH RECORDS EVERY SINGLE VOTE, in the same way one gets a paper receipt from an ATM machine; (c) de-privatize the vote count so that it is managed and supervised by nonpartisan, highly respected groups, such as the League of Women Voters. And (d) prosecute Karl Rove and his henchmen.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

HAS ANYONE READ MAUREEN DOWD'S LATEST COLUMN, "IS RICE COOKED"? The title, by itself, is revealing, and it's more interesting than most of Dowd's usual fluff of clever phrases and breezy, opinionated assessments of her subjects. This time, Dowd was actually fed information on "background" by "one administration official" and "one intelligence official" who signaled their desire to throw UN Ambassador Susan Rice under the bus, through Dowd's more than willing and flattered auspices. The "beheaded Head Spook David Petraeus" (visions of Ichabod Crane) — who did speak on the record at those not-so-closed sessions of the intelligence committees —

"said the C.I.A. knew quickly that the Benghazi raid was a terrorist attack.

“It was such a no-brainer,” one intelligence official (emphasis mine) told me." [Oh, really?]

Maureen is obviously getting a rise out of playing the inside Beltway cloakroom-and-backstab-dagger "spook" game, with her precious anonymous sources ... and everything. Obviously, the vermin who spoke to Dowd anonymously (one, a Petraeus, possibly GOP, loyalist, and the other, who knows, an administration double- or triple-agent) have their own ox to gore, which is to throw Susan Rice under the bus. But here's the kicker: All of a sudden, Dowd embellishes by feeding us largely unsubstantiated "dirt" on Susan Rice. Whose conclusion was it that Rice, "[a]mbitious to be secretary of state ... wanted to prove she had the gravitas for the job and help out the White House"?

Perhaps Susan Rice was the designated point person, period, rather than her boss Hillary Clinton, our current Secretary of State. Could it be that the administration did not wish to elevate the profile of its response, while they were still gathering intelligence on the matter? So rather than send out their heavy hitter, Hillary, with sketchy talking points, they designated their junior diplomat for the job, in the spirit of informing the public of what they (the intelligence agencies) knew at the time, and could divulge. Government bureaucracies typically respond in this fashion; longstanding protocols dictate it, with nothing more nefarious going on. Actually, a departure from established protocol would be the more unusual response.

Instead, Dowd the intelligence and foreign policy expert, claims:

"An Africa expert, Rice should have realized that when a gang showed up with R.P.G.’s and mortars in a place known as a hotbed of Qaeda sympathizers and Islamic extremist training camps, it was not anger over a movie. She should have been savvy enough to wonder why the wily Hillary was avoiding the talk shows."(Emphasis mine.)

Please. First of all, Maureen should have been well enough informed that Libya, post-Qaddafhi, is a country teeming with RPGs, mortars, and weapons of all sorts; a virtual arsenal, which is of great concern to the U.S. It does not follow that their use alone signaled an organized Al Qaeda attack, at least in the initial stages. And that is precisely the intelligence that was provided to Amb. Rice. Secondly, as stated above, the "wily" Secretary of State was following established protocol by not weighing in on the attack until more was known.

Maureen's flights of fancy don't stop here, though. She tells us "[s]ome have wondered if Rice, who has a bull-in-a-china-shop reputation, is diplomatic enough for the top diplomatic job." C'mon, Dowd. CUT THE BULLSHIT. First of all, I love it when members of the Beltway commentariat refer to "some" people, as if it's common knowledge that they are expert analysts with irrefutable inside knowledge. For all we know, "some" of these people could be Chuck Todd, or Moron Joe, or Mark Halperin, or Dick Morris. Get my drift?

Secondly, Susan Rice's supposed "bull-in-a-china-shop reputation" is the first I've heard of it. Not that we, the informed public, follow Amb. Rice's career at the UN that closely, but the President's laudatory adjectives — "exemplary" and "grace" — describing her are certainly much closer to her public image. Word of advice, Maureen: If you're going to use such charged language, please provide specific examples. After all, you write for the venerable New York Times. Maybe a note to their ombudsman is in order.

Dowd's fantasies, no doubt propelled by her pet anonymous Susan Rice backstabbers, continued with unfounded speculation of "zealous" White House staffers with a "tendency to gild the lily" and cast the President in a more "flattering" light vis-a-vis Al Qaeda. She speculated breathlessly, "[d]id administration officials foolishly assume that if affiliates of Al Qaeda were to blame, it would dilute the credit the president got for decimating Al Qaeda?"

It seems an absurd premise, given that the attack was widely described (1) as an intelligence failure, so the President's actions were not at fault, and (2) the administration has always cautioned, or issued the caveat, that while Al Qaeda may be "decimated" its operational capability, particularly in the region, is not. Therefore, we should not take our foot off the accelerator in going after them.

Maureen is apparently baffled by the "virile flare" of the President's "fierce defense" of Amb. Rice. Once again acting as mouthpiece for her pet anonymous Rice backstabbers, she argues the President "might have been better off leaving it to aides, so he did not end up going mano a mano with his nemesis John McCain on an appointment he hasn’t even made (though now Obama might feel compelled to, just to prove that he can’t be pushed around), and so he could focus on fiscal cliff bipartisanship."

In short, the President should have thrown Amb. Rice under the bus, rather than tackle his formidable "nemesis" John McCain. Funny, but to most of us outside observers, the President's "nemesis" has come across as an embittered, pathetic old fool, who is no match for the President's ire. Moreover, the President's reaction wouldn't be so baffling, rather a normal and human expression of anger if he actually believes Amb. Rice wasn't playing for "venerable" but following instructions from her boss. Being a good soldier Rice got a raw deal from an old fart calling for her scalp. One can see how the President would be pissed in such circumstances. Here's Maureen's grand finale:

"His argument that Rice “had nothing to do with Benghazi,” raises the question: Then why was she the point person? [ASKED AND ANSWERED, DOWD.]

The president’s protecting a diplomatic damsel in distress made Rice look more vulnerable, when her reason for doing those shows in the first place was to look more venerable."

Really? Nice alliteration, Maureen, but you have missed the point: As the saying goes, "when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

Thursday, November 15, 2012

David Letterman is brilliant, of course. But on a darker note, isn't it interesting that one day after the President sounded a personal note of generosity and conciliation regarding a possible Romney contribution, Mitt goes off on an extended "47%" rant to contributors, accusing Obama voters (African Americans, women, Latinos) of being bribed for votes with "gifts" from Obama. How despicable, delusional, and SICK is Mitt Romney? You read it here FIRST, MSNBC censors. Romney won despite the Beltway's media malpractice in steering clear of his flawed character and IN-SANITY.

As for John McCain, he's a bitter, unhinged old man who hasn't gotten over 2008. Asked by entertainer Matt Lauer why the Condi Rice State confirmation wasn't analogous to a possible Amb. Rice nomination for the post, Gramps harrumphed that they're "not the same" because four Americans died in Benghazi.

You're right, Senator. You signed off on nonexistent "WMD" including the Condi-Bush-Cheney "mushroom cloud" fearmongering as a pretext to invade Iraq, leading not to four but more than 4,000 American deaths.

Go away, Senator McCain. RETIRE ALREADY. You're an embarrassment to this nation and to what's left of the skeletal remains of your reputation.

Others, considering Russert's limited skills, and right wing views, raised the obvious nepotism questions: “Well, Luke, you got your job due to nepotism. I think you should questions regarding legitimacy of employment.” He added, “BTW [how] did your balls taste, because Nancy served them up to you.”

Alex, Alex, ALEX, ALEX!!! PLEASE, PLEASE, DROP THE HYPER-CHARGED BELTWAY LINGO, DAMMIT! THERE IS NO SUCH THING! EVIDENTLY, YOU GOT AWAY FROM THE HALPERIN HYPNOSIS ONLY TO FALL INTO THE MATTHEWS ORBIT ... Joy-Ann Reed, who is an OASIS OF SANITY AND POLITICAL PERSPICACITY, said "far be it from me for disagreeing with the great Dan Rather" ... but she really meant, "the lovely ingenue to my left" ... then went on to explain how progressive positions, historically, are actually, MAIN-EFFIN'-STREAM!

FINALLY, I wish someone would ask Dan (I know you won't) but I'm so curious: WTF happened to his vaunted "GUT FEELING" which told him it would be "a good day" for Romney?!

WATCHING THE BELTWAY MEDIA REPORT THE PETRAEUS SEXUAL SCANDAL is like an involuntary peek at a bunch of sexually repressed voyeurs getting off on a porn show. Especially those who get weepy with reverence for institutions like our military and the ironically named "J. Edgar Hoover building" (look up Hoover in Chris Matthew's semi-whitewash JFK book, and you'll know what I mean) — Chuckles Toddy is always good for laughs in this regard, and Chris bemoans reporting "sex" instead of politics before going ALL IN with his double-fisted approach, obviously enlisting a dude who knows of political dirt, John Heilemann, for commentary.

Whitewash, you say? How inconvenient for Chris Matthews that his "colleague" Rachel Maddow is around to correct the record and fill in the gaps in his Hardy Boys account of American History. Listen up, Chris: You may commit sins of historical omission in the Beltway bubble which regards that plagiarized trash Game Change as high literature, but as long as we and your inconvenient "colleague" Rachel Maddow are around, we won't let you get away with a whitewash of American History:

None better than Glenn Greewald to describe the Beltway Bacchanalia surrounding the Petraeus sex scandal: "[T]heir titillation and joy is palpable as they revel in every last arousing detail. This giddy package is delivered draped in a sanctimonious wrapping: their excitement at reporting on these scandals is matched only by their self-righteous condemnations of the moral failings of the responsible person."

Here's Greewald's priceless observation of the Queen of the Beltway's reaction: "On MSNBC, Andrea Mitchell appeared genuinely grief-stricken when she first reported Petraeus' resignation letter. "This is very painful", she began by announcing, as she wore a profoundly sad face. Her voice quivered with a mix of awe and distress as she read his resignation letter, savoring every word as though she were reciting from the Dead Sea Scrolls. On the Rachel Maddow Show later that night, Mitchell began her appearance by decreeing that "this is a personal tragedy" and said she was particularly sorrowful for "the men and women of the CIA, an agency that has many things to be proud about: many things to be proud about" [emphasis in original]."

Greenwald blows the cover wide open on the DEIFICATION of our military in the most cogent, MUST-READ examination of what is REALLY IMPORTANT about this sordid affair. I should only add that the MIS-behavior of certain FBI agents in their "investigation," namely the shirtless pictures and seemingly politically motivated reporting of the affair to Eric Cantor, Tea Party darling and way off the chain-of-command scales, suggests the (revered by Chris) J. Edgar Hoover culture may be alive and well in the FBI. Another high-level resignation is in order: FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III, a Bush holdout, followed by a total housecleaning of the agency.

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

OMG! HERE I WAS, LICKING MY CHOPS READY TO DECONSTRUCT AN S.E. CUPP "HISTORICAL" COMMENTARY on Lincoln and, particularly, that little-known president James Garfield, and their relationship to the current "civil war" within the Republican Party ... but, nooo; Sarah Elizabeth produced a perfectly scholarly and informative essay on the topic. Even our friend Martin Bashir, kept his ever anticipated zingers at S.E. in check:

I say cut these antebellum crackers loose; these white trash freeloaders rank 11th in total federal spending in Alabama (OUR TAX DOLLARS!): "salaries, contracts, Social Security, Medicare and hundreds of other direct payments to individuals and institutions — averaged $11,819 per capita, above the national average of $10,459. The federal government sent almost $56.5 billion to the state, which was about evenly divided among four broad categories: defense, healthcare, Social Security and all other agencies combined." Mississippi brings up the rear as the FIRST at the federal government trough. Definitely Romney country. Cut the white trash moochers loose; let's see how long they last before anarchy set in.

Monday, November 12, 2012

I WILL PERSONALLY CAMPAIGN TO TAKE DOWN ALL YOUR RATINGS GAINS, for which BIG EDDIE holds a great deal of the credit. I don't know who came up with this "brilliant" idea; perhaps Phil Griffin (the corporate weather vane) along with Matthews (who HATES Big Eddie's true blue collar middle class roots; along with Chris's backstabbing Beltway cohorts), but I can assure you, if implemented, it will go down like a lead balloon.

Let me clue you corporate MSNBC ASSHOLES in on a little secret: I (ME) represent your preferred demographic. Check with any of your SMART producers and hosts who riffed off of this little blog's "suggestions" — including who's hot and who's not in punditry —and you will notice the cause-and-effect results in the ratings upticks. Now let me clue you in on another little secret, held back only out of personal consideration for Ezra Klein: The fact of the matter is, Ezra IS INCAPABLE OF CARRYING AN ENTIRE SHOW. Sorry, Ezra, but whenever he's replaced Rachel or Big Eddie, my reaction was a groan followed ten minutes later by a flip to mindless entertainment TV. Yes, I said so myself, Ezra is BRILLIANT dissecting and deconstructing things like the budget and health care, but an entire program which includes the weirdness of politics, human interest, and ENTERTAINMENT, is just not Ezra's bailiwick. He's too wonkish; too un-cool, especially in his cringey attempts to be cool; I'm sorry Ezra, but his diction and weird pronunciation of words is annoying to no end. And so it goes.

Whatever this anti-Big Eddie trial balloon is, from the anti-labor, anti-middle class, BELTWAY wing of the MSNBC high command, it's not going to work, because we, the viewers, will TAKE YOU DOWN BIG TIME. You're fucking CRAZY if you think we're going to hang around for an hour to watch a wonkish killjoy DEPRESS all subsequent programming, beginning with Rachel (if Ezra precedes her, Rachel's ratings will take a nosedive), even more so with Lawrence.

A word to the WISE ... if they even EXIST in MSNBC's corporate boardrooms.

IN THE WANING WEEKS OF THIS CAMPAIGN, MATTHEWS FELL BACK TO THE DARK SIDE, qualifying every statement to not sound partisan, which blew up in his face anyway, censoring use of the word "LIAR" to correctly describe Mitt Romney's historically unprecedented unprincipled campaign. (And I'm being generous.) But his justification for taking religion off the table was astonishing: He said the kids somehow inherit their parents' religion, and therefore it's unfair to hold them to it. Excuse me, Chris, but kids become adults and adults have free choice. In fact, it is only the most FUNDAMENTALIST religions whose grip on the kids-adults is the strongest, and which happen to be the most patriarchal. And that is absolutely worthy of discussion in the public square, if we are to make an informed choice for the leader whose finger is on the nuclear trigger. Not to denigrate the religion, but to inform, and, most of all, discuss how the candidate's religion will inform and influence his policy decisions and choices should he become president.

"There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for [FOR ME] the FOR president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent [OF YOU — HA-HA] who are with him ME, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they WE are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them US [TAX CUTS, FOREIGN TAX SHELTERS], who believe that they WE are entitled to health care [MAYO, CLEVELAND CLINICS], to food [CAVIAR], to housing [I HAVE FOUR HOMES AND I HATE PAYING PROPERTY TAXES ... HOW ABOUT YOU?], to you-name-it. That that’s an OUR entitlement [WE BUILT IT — HA-HA]. And the government should give it to them US. And they will vote for this president [ME] no matter what . . . These are people who pay no income tax [YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE! I STUCK MY NECK OUT FOR YOU — HA-HA]. . . [M]y job is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them YOU they should TO take personal responsibility and care for their lives [THE LESS FORTUNATE ... LET THEM EAT CAKE — HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!]." ~ Mitt Romney

Friday, November 09, 2012

THIS REMARKABLE VIDEO GIVES US A RARE GLIMPSE AT WHAT MAKES President Obama tick. All we can say, Mr. President, is that those of us who voted for you are just as proud of you; for we could always see in you, not "platitudes" claimed by the cynical brainwashed on the right, but your character and humanity and idealism that have always inspired and moved us, from the start, through thick and thin:

"THE PROBLEM IS, HALF THE PEOPLE VOTED AGAINST THE PRESIDENT." ~ Dee Dee Myers, former Clinton press secretary and material girl about Georgetown, getting Chris Matthews all aroused with her sweet nothin' centrisms. First of all, Dee Dee, if "half" the country had voted against the President, this election would be in the House of Representatives.

This election was an electoral college WIPEOUT with 332 votes for Obama versus 204 for Romney. Nor was it a popular vote squeaker, with the President racking up roughly 3 million more votes than Romney. I've seen Republicans claim a "mandate" with far less impressive results. HOW FED UP AM I WITH THE BELTWAY IDIOT PUNDITOCRACY?! Don't ask, you EFFIN' JERKS! Particularly DISGUSTED with the Beltway's FUZZY MATH!

You may get RIGHT WING Chris 'Clintonista' Matthews aroused, Dee Dee, but as for us, progressives, we're reading the Matthews RIGHT WING ELITIST BELTWAY TEA LEAVES AND WE'RE RARIN' FOR A FIGHT! THIS WAS OUR ELECTION; and despite what the Beltway's Baghdad Bob has to say, this was a progressive victory by a LEFT-OF-CENTER country.

One more thing: How friggin' USELESS have you become, David Corn ... HUH?!

Wednesday, November 07, 2012

TONIGHT, EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING, PRESIDENT OBAMA had his passport to greatness stamped by the American people; and we, the people just saved America. Do not, for a moment, EVER believe elections do not matter. Do not, for a moment, EVER fall prey to cynicism, as the President reminded us. Elections matter. And all I could think was utter a silent word of thanks for the collective wisdom of the American voter — for rescuing us from the horrors of a hard right wing Supreme Court bent on social engineering of our lives, with two, maybe three, appointments looming in this President's second term.

No longer. President Obama will appoint non-ideological justices in the mold of a Kagan, Sotomayor, and Breyer. Chief Justice Roberts' dream of leading a posse of ultra-coservatives to join Scalia and Thomas in striking down decades of precedent — as in the catastrophic Citizens United decision — the linchpin being the repeal of Roe v. Wade is gone with the Windy City wind. Hopefully, Chief Justice Roberts will get the oath of office right this go-round, however distracted he may be by the people cutting his royalist dreams off at the knees. More specifically, the "people" being really, REALLY pissed-off women.

Romney LOSERMAN. — Mitt Romney LOST EVERY STATE HE'S EVER LIVED IN: Michigan, where he was born; Massachusetts, where he votes and was a one-term governor; California, where he owns a beachfront home; New Hampshire, where he summers on the lake ... And Paulie "a star is born" Munster couldn't even deliver his state of Wisconsin for Romney. Talk about MINUS ZERO. OUCH!

Shoutout to The Thinker. — Back on October 26, we were the first out of the box to boldly proclaim: "Cake Is Baked: Powell Endorses, Polling Super Geek Says Romney Stalls, Wingnuts Stroke Out." Calling out the GOP's "despicable 21st century Jim Crow voter suppression measures," we correctly predicted "their game plan is to mobilize the raw meat-eating racist basest of their base" to vote for Romney, while the President "broadens his appeal to the last of the non-political, ignorant but persuadable voters. The only way Republicans win this election is by stealing it. In Ohio and Florida."

Don't tell me they didn't try. Were it not for the vigilance of the Obama volunteers, the under-the-radar shenanigans of both states' partisan secretaries of state would have been much greater, and quite possibly influence the outcome in Romney's favor. For those who say, 50-50 lucky guess, I would add that when polling Super Geek Nate Silver gave the President a 75% chance of victory, it was good enough for us. Nate's modeling predictions are the most accurate in the business; everything else is B.S. and lots of professional envy.

Likewise, we had been calling Paul "Eddie Munster" Ryan a fraud and a dud for a very long time, only to see two MSNBC pundit luminaries make a beeline for the Kool-Aid after Ryan's pathetic and unimpressive lyin' convention speech. "A star is born"?! Please. Only Howard Fineman came close to the truth about this Objectivist fraud, last night when he said, in effect, Ryan was a Beltway creation. But we'd been saying that for a long time, too.

Tea Party Waterloo. — How sweet it is ... And thank YOU, Teabaggers! Stay STOOPID and engaged, you pathetic imbeciles. At this rate, you will have destroyed the Republican Party in record time, relegating it to permanent minority status. Double sweet, too, because while you targeted Democrat Alan Grayson in 2010, one of the most liberal members of Congress ... He's BAAAAAACK! Grayson easily won election in a new Florida district. Best of all, though, we got our PAYBACK and REVENGE claiming the scalps of a couple of the most LOATHSOME Teabaggers: Allen West and Joe Walsh. West is the wingnut fruitcake who claimed there were 88 "Democrat communists" in the House. Walsh, a loudmouth Teabagger and deadbeat dad, was defeated by double amputee veteran and great American, Tammy Duckworth.

But wait, there's more: In Connecticut Rep. Chris Murphy, a GREAT liberal Democrat soundly defeated WWF millionare Linda McMahon who spent $100 million of her own money, twice trying to buy a Senate seat with nothing to show for it except the privilege of watching her opponents' victory speeches. In Wisconsin, a great candidate Tammy Baldwin retired Bush-era dinosaur Tommy Thompson. Baldwin will be the first openly gay member to serve in the Senate. The Democrats had many more seats to defend. But when all is said and done, they will have gained two more, upping their total from 53 to 55. YES!

Cry, cry, then whine some more. — Read this and WEEP, Teabaggers/extremist Republicans: President Obama is in a STRONG position to build on his legacy and pass his agenda, which includes (a) getting a jobs bill done; (b) start implementing phase II of Obamacare, specifically, the state exchanges; (c) begin SERIOUS efforts to tackle global warming and curb greenhouse gases; (d) pass comprehensive immigration reform; and (e) responsible debt reduction based on ARITHMETIC, letting the Bush tax cuts expire and raising revenues by taxing the rich.

Forget all the labels and lies. This is a LEFT-OF-CENTER country, folks. That's what WE, THE PEOPLE voted for last night. It was a DECISIVE victory over extremism and DIRTY MONEY thrown at us by Karl Rove's SuperPac and the ratbastard millionaires, among them Sheldon Adelson and the Koch brothers. They had the AUDACITY, the hubris to think it would be easy to buy democracy right out from under our feet. Didn't happen. You have two choices, Republicans: (1) Compromise, cooperate, participate in good solutions-based governance; or, (2) take an even worse SPANKING from the people.

"NO-DRAMA OBAMA" SHEDS A TEAR AT HIS LAST CAMPAIGN RALLY, IN IOWA, where it all began. Surrounded by friends and supporters in the great, salt-of-the-earth state of Iowa, which will deliver their votes and their love for the President for one last time, the President spoke of his hopes for our nation's future and reminisced about 2008, closing with one of his favorite stories about the plucky little old lady who lifted their spirits after a tiring day of campaigning with what would become one of his campaign anthems: "FIRED UP! READY TO GO!"

Now it's all up to us, the PEOPLE, to exercise our constitutional RIGHT TO VOTE, without which our democracy cannot not exist. I honestly do not understand regular folks, Republicans, who will vote for a lying weather vane like Mitt Romney, who set new historic standards for running a dishonest campaign. Mostly, these are very ignorant, ostrich-like people with an endless capacity for rationalizing and excusing the lies. And projecting. How laughable is it for Romney to close by stealing Obama's campaign theme, "vote for change"?! If Romney's backward, reactionary, classist, arrogant, condescending, racist, hateful (projecting), lying campaign is "change," then the voters who bought into it are the greatest SUCKERS in the history of Humankind, except perhaps for the Germans who embraced fascism.

Were my ears deceiving me, or did Romney actually say, alluding to The Boss, Bruce Springsteen traveling with Obama, that he did not "see the Beatles" in his crowd. THE BEATLES?! I mean, this guy is SO, SO OUT OF TOUCH, literally 50 YEARS behind the times, that it's scary. But I've got to think that those reasonable Republicans you can fit in a closet are deeply embarrassed about the outrageous PARTISAN voter suppression efforts in the states of Ohio and Florida, in particular, but also in other states controlled by Republicans. Forcing African Americans and Latinos to stand 6, 7, 8 hours in line to vote is beyond outrageous; IT'S CRIMINAL. Even a Republican, Christie Todd Whitman, former NJ governor, said this looks like voting in a third world country, not the United States. These right wing Republicans who wrap themselves around the Constitution personify hypocrisy. They are truly "head cases" including, most threatening of all, Mitt Romney.

VOTE FOR THE GOOD GUY. ROMNEY VOTERS, IN YOUR HEART, YOU KNOW WHO HE IS.

YO, BIG EDDIE, ARE YOU WITHIN STRIKING DISTANCE OF THE HIGH PRIEST OF THE IDIOT
PUNDITOCRACY to take a swing at that MARMOT-FACE?! Just expressing how much MSNBC viewers appreciate his IGNORANT PUNDITRY!

"AS YOU CAN SEE, I HAVE GIVEN MY VOICE IN THE SERVICE OF MY PRESIDENT." Bill Clinton warming up a crowd of 24,000 people in Virginia for President Obama. As our current President said, Bill Clinton is a "national treasure."

ALEX, ALEX, ALEX ... INDIANA IS NOT a Democratic "HOLD" seat. Last I checked, the TEABAGGER-early retired, or "primaried," Dick Lugar hasn't been a Democrat since at least 1869! I think you're confusing a moderate Republican's bipartisan cooperation with being a Democrat. Better take a pill and lie down, woman, lest you contract the much more serious BELTWAY "SUCK-UP" disease, for hanging out with Gonzo stenographer, Idiot Punditocracy luminary and world's worst political prognosticator, Mark Halperin. Tomorrow never knows:

MITT ROMNEY'S PANDERING TO THE RIDICULOUS "SMALL" GOVERNMENT ZEALOTS AND JUVENILE LIBERTARIANS with a VAST American History knowledge gap makes the ABSURD assumption there is a DEVASTATED STATE/PRIVATE SECTOR replacement for the federal-state-FEMA-military coordination of resources to areas most needed. And the very idea that such an effort of saving lives and putting the broken victims of a natural disaster back together again would be a FOR-PROFIT enterprise is OBSCENE, GHOULISH, AND PROFOUNDLY UN-AMERICAN. Shame on all of you who hold to these selfish, alien views.

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, the U.S. Navy has ordered three ships to sail off the shores of New York in case federal emergency responders need off-shore support as they continue clean up efforts.

On Oct. 30, "the helicopter carrier USS Wasp (LHD 1), which was already at sea riding out the storm, began to head north to be better positioned," Rear Adm. James Kirby, chief of information for the Navy, wrote on a Navy website.

On Oct. 31, "the fleet commander ordered two other amphibious ships, USS San Antonio (LPD-17) and USS Carter Hall (LSD-50), to get underway and likewise head north … however these ships have not been officially tasked to provide support," Kirby wrote.

The Navy, like the rest of the U.S. military, is often tasked with supporting the Federal Emergency Management Agency in disaster-relief efforts. Navy ships can serve as floating airports as well as provide airlift and SEABEE construction-battalion support.

According to the National Guard Coordination Center, the responders assembled and staged in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island and Virginia. Their mission include providing support at evacuation shelters, route clearance, search and rescue, and delivery of essential equipment and supplies.

“Additional Army Guard forces, from outside the immediate hurricane affected states, are prepared to meet gaps in essential functions, if requested,” Army Lt Gen William E. Ingram, Jr., director of the Army National Guard, said in a news release on DoDLive.mil.

As each affected area continues to monitor, assess, and respond as needed, the National Guard Bureau officials do their part in monitoring and coordinating from the federal level. On Sunday, Army Gen. Frank Grass, the chief of the National Guard Bureau, briefed President Barack Obama on the National Guard response in support of state, local and federal agencies.

The National Guard said other states were also extending assistance for rescue operations and relief efforts. A Nevada National Guard 152nd Airlift Wing C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft and crew departed on Monday for Moffett Field, California to pick up a rescue boat, truck, and several Guardian Angel Pararescue Airmen from the 129th Rescue Wing of the California Air National Guard.

”What we provide to FEMA and the state governors at their request is just a myriad of support and response and rescue capabilities, so that they can pick and choose what they need, and they know they’ll have it,” says Lt. Col. Tom Crosson, a Pentagon spokesman. “We can go anywhere in the country and get it quickly if they don’t have it.”

That begins with the raw manpower of the National Guard. Even before Sandy made landfall this week, more than 61,000 National Guardsmen were standing by to lend a hand to civilian authorities. Now, those who have been activated are helping state police and local fire departments with rescues, debris removal, and evacuation of hospitals.

Meanwhile, cargo planes help emergency officials move pieces around the chessboard. On Thursday, the US military sent C-5 and C-17 planes to California to pick up “civilian power vehicles” to bring to New York, adds Colonel Crosson. This included “bucket trucks” and pickups to help work on the downed lines and power grids in New York and New Jersey.

The military also has its own high water vehicles and Humvees to get into isolated areas.

For its part, the Army Corps of Engineers has “fanned out” throughout affected areas to see what kind of expertise it can lend to affected states. “The Corps has been very aggressive,” said Mr. Little.

This expertise has included helping to restore power to the “several million households” on the East Coast that remain without electricity, according to Little.

Another top priority has been assessing and starting to clean out flooded tunnels, homes, and electrical substations. “The Army Corps of Engineers has a great deal of experience in what they call ‘unwatering,’ which involves pumping water out of tunnels and other sites,” he added.

To this end, nine small assistance teams are at tunnels throughout New York, “working with city officials and engineers to determine what’s needed to get that water out,” Crosson says.